Camera Help

[teenreporter]

Hi Everyone,
I have been having some problems with my camera and thought this would be the place to go to get some help. I have been sending my video I do for stories to KHQA via Western Illinois University and their microwave... when I send the video, WIU has a scope that they can see what the lighting is like on the video and they use the term "hot" for bad looking video (I'm not quite sure what it means, but I know it is bad). It usually gets "hot" when I have shot a white object or its due to lighting.. can anyone help me solve this problem so my future video won't be "hot"? It would be greatly appreciated!

Also, this friday I am doing a story about a Ghost Hunt, and its at night.. any tips on how to do night shots?? I don't have nightvision.

Thanks!!!

-T.J.

[Bureau Chief]

Hot means essentually that its over exposed. Does your camera have any manual settings? What are you shooting with? Its possible that you are not putting the right filter setting on, or its possible that you have some other setting wrong. On my PD 170, if I use the back light setting and forget to turn it off, the video will look ok in the view finder and on the lcd screen but will look hot on air. Give me more details please!

[teenreporter]

Sorry, I have a Canon ZR850 which uses MiniDV tapes

[teenreporter]

Hot means essentually that its over exposed. Does your camera have any manual settings? What are you shooting with? Its possible that you are not putting the right filter setting on, or its possible that you have some other setting wrong. On my PD 170, if I use the back light setting and forget to turn it off, the video will look ok in the view finder and on the lcd screen but will look hot on air. Give me more details please! I do believe it has manual settings, but I dont know what to set it to.

[SamG]

I do believe it has manual settings, but I dont know what to set it to."Hot" video means you are overexposed. Means there is too much light coming into the camera. You can adjust the light via: Iris, Filter, or shutter. What your camera has/doesn't have will affect what you can do. Break open the manual. Take the camera somewhere where you can shoot something inside and outside (a garage or through a window). Hook the camera up to a monitor (TV). Aim the camera at something inside... adjust the iris, filter, and shutter as your looking at the TV. See what they do. Now shoot something outside. You'll need less light.

Now, put something INSIDE, but with the OUTSIDE in the background. As you try to get enough light on your subject, the outside will end up overexposed. If you've been shooting in "auto" this is what the camera is trying to do.

Break open the manual and find how to adjust things. "Auto" should be RARELY used.

Find a book on photography and look up "exposure". It's the same for still cameras and video cameras (in relation to how much light & F-stops). No one can tell you what Fstop you need for a certain setting.

[LunchPenalty]

Look for a "zebra stripes" setting and turn it on. Everything in your frame that is overexposed will have stripes running through it. Iris down until they disappear, or are at minimal levels.

[SamG]

Look for a "zebra stripes" setting and turn it on. Everything in your frame that is overexposed will have stripes running through it. Iris down until they disappear, or are at minimal levels.
Don't confuse the issue. Did you see the camera he's talking about? It's a handycam. There's NO way there's a zebra stripes setting.

Also, the stripes don't mean you're overexposed, they're usually set to show you're properly exposed. Cheekbones, foreheads, noses (the hot spots of the face) should have the stripes. If you're overexposed, the stripes will blend so you have a white blob in the vf.

[Bureau Chief]

I would agree with Sam. Take it out and PLAY with it! Try them all while recording and narate as you do the various settings and shots and then attached the camera to a tv and then watch the tape. You will hear yourself explaining what you are doing, which button you just pushed and then you see what effect that action has on the picture.

There is one option we havent discussed. That being that they are deliberately dissing your video efforts so they dont have to pay you for it! Ive been there!

NOW if you cant find the operations manual, I have a link here for you for all the manuals that they offer on line.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&tabact=DownloadDetailTabAct&fcategoryid=326&modelid=14726

[Bureau Chief]

As for the nightshot problem...you are screwed there I think. Unless you can barrow someones camcorder that has that ability or can get a light somewhere.

[cameragod]

Are you serious? It’s a sh!t camera that’s not suitable for anything. My phone takes better video than that.
All you are doing is killing any chance you have of ever finding real work.
First impressions last and now to a lot of people you will always be the joke kid with the joke camera.
Look, ask if you can ride along with some of the real camera crew. Have a look at what they do and how they do it. Learn the basics. It takes time, it takes work and there are very few shortcuts. Leave the toy camera for family outings.

[Rosenblum]

Yes. By all means stop shooting or making video with that **** camera. You call up Western Illinois University right now and tell them you are not going to make another piece until they get you a Sony DNW 9WS...and with a really good lens. I am sure they will get right on it!

While you are waiting, however, you might take a look and make sure that your camera is in auto or auto-lock function. Also make sure you have not touched the backlight button inadvertently.

For the "Ghost Story" the night vision is nice, but since you don't have it, just get yourself a small mag flashlight and you can use it to illuminate the stuff you are shooting at night. Actually looks pretty good. If you wanna see an example, take a look at this pilot I shot in Detroit with some homicide detectives

http://rosenblumtv.wordpress.com/2008/01/26/detroit-homicide/

. All this was shot with a **** camera and the night stuff lit by flashlight (note the scene when the kid is arrested in the car after the shooting). While Detroit Homicide did not get picked up, TLC did go on to order 2 seasons of Police Force. Shot the same way.

Oh, and if you do this, by the time you get that professional camera, at least you'll know how to shoot and tell a hell of a good story. You'll have had lots of practice. (Most buyers are a lot more impressed by a well told video story than a well lite boring one),

[Spike]

TJ, I hate to say it but the advice you're getting here may not make sense until you've had an opportunity to get feedback in person from a teacher or mentor. The camera's automatic functions can be fooled, and until you understand the basics of photography you won't know how to anticipate and work around these problems. If you can manage a regular still photography course (using a manual camera, not a point and shoot digital camera), you will learn a lot about contrast and how to manage it. I don't remember what year you are in school, but if your school doesn't offer a photography course I would suggest looking around at community colleges in your area for such a course. Many schools have weekend "fun courses" and similar programs that include basic photography for those who aren't actually seeking college credit.

Meanwhile, a few thoughts:

It has been mentioned that "hot" means overexposed. It can also mean the electronic video levels are too high. It's possible to have your video exposed properly in your camera, but the people at the station read your video as too hot on their scope because something in the chain between your playback deck and their record deck is set improperly. It can be as simple as the video levels on the playback deck being set too high, or as complex (to you) as an unterminated connection somewhere. If this is the problem, you're going to need help from the people at WIU to fix it.

Another possibility that comes to mind is that you're shooting video with too much contrast. If you have areas in your frame that are really bright and areas that are really dark, the camera won't be able to expose them both properly. Either one part will be too dark, or another will be too bright (hot), or both. Think of someone sitting in front of a window. If you expose for the person, the outside will blow out. If you expose for the outside, the person will be in silhouette. You may even end up with a silhouette in front of a blown out window.

Now consider other situations. Suppose you're shooting outside in a shaded area, and off in the background there's a reflection of the sun on the windshield of a car. That reflection is going to be too hot and will blow out on video. When you feed that, the scope at the station will show a portion of the video to be too hot, with the video levels too high, and they'll want you to crank down your video levels.

This is where the photographic training comes in. If you learn how exposure works, you will learn how to recognize high contrast situations and work around them. You may need to frame out hot spots. You may need to change your angle so that you have a darker background rather than a brighter one. Or it could just be that your exposure is inconsistent, and you're overexposing some shots and underexposing others. None of us here can tell you exactly what you need to do to fix your video, because none of us have seen it.

If you can't swing the photography class, what you may be able to do instead is to get the chief photog at KHQA or somebody in the video department at WIU to take a few hours with you to go over your video and give you some specific feedback. Somebody is going to have to actually see the work to give you any meaningful advice.

Now, changing gears:

While you are waiting, however, you might take a look and make sure that your camera is in auto or auto-lock function.

You just can't resist proving yourself to be an idiot. He didn't ask about content. He asked about a technical problem pertaining to exposure and video levels. Putting the camera in full auto won't help if he doesn't understand the basics of photography.

I suspect that it is in full auto, and that's the problem. He (like you) doesn't (yet) know enough about photography to understand the camera's weakness in reproducing contrast. The best way for him to learn photography is to take the camera out of automatic and set the lens parameters himself. When he has control over exposure, for example, and can see detail in the frame appear and disappear at different settings, he will start to learn about contrast and how to frame out hot spots or set up a shot so the background is not blown out.

[Nino Giannotti]

While you are waiting, however, you might take a look and make sure that your camera is in auto or auto-lock function. Also make sure you have not touched the backlight button inadvertently.

Oh, and if you do this, by the time you get that professional camera, at least you'll know how to shoot and tell a hell of a good story. You'll have had lots of practice. (Most buyers are a lot more impressed by a well told video story than a well lite boring one),

And if you follow Rosenblum teaching this is what will happen, even after 20 years in the business.

http://www.b-roll.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20696

[csusandman]

And if you follow Rosenblum teaching this is what will happen, even after 20 years in the business.

http://www.b-roll.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20696

...Rosenblum is a hack. Really MR, go away and leave the work to the pros. Nice catch Nino!

teenreporter, if you learn anything from the responses to your original post, I hope it's this: do NOT take anything that Rosen'boob' says seriously. The man talks alot about the bidness but can't do squat to back it up. That video that Nino links to proves my point. Shooting an interview subject in front of a window like that is a "Photog 101 No-No"! (Unless you're doing an interview where the subject doesn't want to show their face, then it's great...)

Back to your question though... check your manual. Sounds like your iris is open more than necessary. If there's a way for you to post some of the video, it might make it easier to get to the root of the problem.

[Nino Giannotti]

Spike gave you the best suggestion, Rosenblum, as expected, the worst. If you are planning to stay in this business you must learn the basic of photography and how light effects exposure, get familiar with everything technical that will create your image first. Once you are confident that you can handle every situation then worry about content. Don't wait like Rosenblum suggested, that's backward. It would be like a mechanic learning to repair a transmission first and then learn how to use the proper tools.

For now read the camera manual and experiment on all types of lighting situations. If you really want to learn take the camera out of auto and do everything on manual so you can learn how to handle exposures. Automation on all small cameras is only accurate under ideal conditions, something that rarely exists. This also goes for the white balance, learn that too.

[!]

The best advice I can give is, do exactly the opposite of what Rosenblum suggests.

He's a parasite who owes his whole business to his ability to sell a "solution" that doesn't work to TV management. Just ask the folks at KRON, among others.

"Don't Do What Donny Don't Does." Or Rosie, for that matter.

[Nino Giannotti]

TJ let me explain how the automatic exposure on cheap cameras works.

Let's start by saying that on the contrary of what Rosenblum has been preaching those are not broadcast quality cameras. Broadcast quality is a set of technical specifications set by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for optimum broadcasting and transmission quality. Getting an image on the air is not broadcasting quality, is just an image and as you've been experiencing not a very good image.

Getting a decent image from an automatic camera is even more difficult than with a manual setting; why is that? The camera is not a very intelligent instrument, actually it has no intelligence at all and anyone who claim it does has no intelligence either. It doesn't know what's important in that picture, all the automation will try to do is to give an average exposure. If the image is flat with no highlights or heavy shadows then you will get a correct exposure, however as I said before perfect situations barely exist. This is when the operator judgment comes into play and decides what's important in that image and will set the correct exposure on that. Let's suppose that you are photographing a person and the skin tones are slightly brighter then the rest of the picture, the automation in the camera will calculate an average exposure across the image and you'll end up with an over exposed skin tones.

On the other end look at the pathetic image created by Rosenblum, keep in mind that he supposedly is a "video instructor"
http://www.b-roll.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20696
The opposite here happened. The auto camera once again tried to create an average exposure but in this case because of the bright background (window) the camera reduced the exposure to compensate for the bright light, thus everything darker went dark.

There is a backlight compensator built-in most automatic cameras but all these will do is to over-expose the image to a programmed preset and although it might help a little it still might be way off. Judging from the Rosenblum "silhouette" video he probably had the back-light set, if not his own picture would had been totally dark, however as you can see it was not enough to make a decent image.

Do yourself a favor, if you want to make it in this business do not listen to self appointed experts like Rosenblum. Keep asking questions on these boards and even thou you'll see a lot of controversies, take what you need and discard the rest.

[Another OMB]

Good catch, Spike, on the possibility that it could also be a problem in the playback of the video, not just whether the video itself was shot overexposed.

I used to feed my stories back to my station 100 miles away through the local PBS station's satellite. There are knobs on the playback decks that control audio volume, video level, contrast, etc. Luckily, there was a waveform monitor connected to the decks so I could move the knobs so that I knew the video I was sending out was at the proper levels.

Here's why that's important: If the playback levels were not set properly, my video could have been "hot" on the receiving end even if the video levels were perfect on my end. So take Spike's advice and check the feed levels first.

The rest of the advice is spot-on, too. I have an intern who uses a small, home camcorder that's probably similar to the one you're using. Until she learned how to take it OUT of auto and shoot on manual, most of what she shot was not useable.

There ARE things you can do, other than shoot in manual, to make your video look better. When shooting an interview, it's almost always better for the background to be darker than the interview subject. Move your camera and/or subject around so you have a dark background and that'll solve a lot of your problems.

But know this: even high-end, broadcast quality cameras aren't perfect about exposure when set on auto. You can have a perfectly-framed, perfectly-lit shot with the camera set on "auto". But someone wearing a white shirt walks through the background of the shot--the camera sees the bright spot and turns down the iris, making your shot too dark. They walk out of the frame and the iris opens back up. The back and forth between light-dark-light is very distracting and can ruin your shot.

And it happens ALL the time. Ask any pro photog. It can be a light-colored car driving through the frame, any other car with the sun reflecting off the windshield; I've even seen a piece of jewelry reflect sunlight and mess up the camera iris.

[The news photographer]

use your zebra setting

[Nino Giannotti]

use your zebra setting

Even thou the use of zebra should be something very basic, I've see many bad exposures and unusable images because shooters rely on zebras without knowing how the camera was set up. Before you trust your zebra settings, (providing your camera has it, cheap pro-sumer cameras don't), make sure that the camera is set correctly. Many newer and better cameras have two user's selectable zebra settings. One is usually set at apx. 70 IRE and that's the recommended exposure for skin tones, and the other is set before the camera clips out at 100 IRE. Both settings are adjustable via internal menu. Check and understand those menus first before you get in trouble.

[3.58 mHZ]

Find out how to get in touch w/the technical maintenance guys, who ought to be more than willing to help you with this situation. If not, and there's a TV stn close enough by, call, and ask to speak either to an engineer or a news shooter. Given your situation, someone should be willing to give you some hands on assistance that will help you understand what's going on.

Best to you ~

[TAFKA wacowx]

I had a Canon ZR-10...the REALLY cheap one from circa 2000 and I was pleasantly surprised to find it had a manual white-balance and exposure settings, so I assume if you float around through the menus on your cam and check out the maunal you will be able to find these functions. Not a zebra setting though as far as I can recall.

[F4 Fan]

Wow this like a b-roll reunion. T.J., Spike and Nino are pros; listen to what they have to say. I know you are working hard to get good stories. But one reason why the reporter/photographer combination has been so successful for so many decades is that it is really difficult to report on a story and to shoot it at the same time and to do justice to both. It can be done, most of us (photographers) can shoot a pretty good story without a reporter, but in a breaking, fluid, news situation it is always best to work as a team.

Many of these consumer cameras have no real manual settings. They are for soccer moms to get video of the kids after school and that’s about all they are good for.

Watch your backgrounds, make sure it is not brighter than your subject, try to find even lighting (not easy at noon) for your subject but most of all, try to find good stories to tell.

As for the nighttime shoot. Maybe Mike has a good idea after all. Could be a fun way of getting around your equipment limitations. Use the flashlight as a means to add drama to your shooting and story telling.